Awakenings
by LeafsFan2003
Summary: Third in the series of my AU season 2 stories. The origins of the human models comes to light. Will Adama finally wake up?
1. Prologue

Battlestar Galactica

"Awakenings"

_A/N: The third of my stories setting up my AU season two. For those just joining in, I suggest reading "Kobol's Destiny" then "Culture Shock" so you'll be in the know. Anyway, enjoy._

Prologue

Battlestar Galactica – Orbit of Kobol

Mark Kelan, formerly of the planet Earth, stood staring at the woman sitting quietly in her cell. The appearances were unmistakable, yet he was not convinced the woman was his friend.

"The resemblance is remarkable," he commented to Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama. "But I've seen plenty of people who look like someone else."

"I dunno, Cally says the picture she saw was a perfect match for Boomer, I mean Sharon," Lee told him.

"Still…You say you have another one of these in the morgue."

"An exact duplicate of this one," Lee said.

Kelan thought for a moment. This seemed an easy enough puzzle to solve, provided these humans possessed the right technology.

"Doctor Cottle, do you by chance happen to have access to an iris imaging device?"

"A what?" the doctor asked.

"I need a picture of her eyes, particularly her irises. I'll also need a picture of the eyes of the one in the morgue. If what I'm thinking proves true, then I may just figure out two problems on my mind."

"I'll see what I can do," Cottle told him and left shaking his head.

As Kelan and Lee walked down the hall, Kelan fully explained what he hoped to accomplish.

"It's a proven fact that no two irises are the same. Experiments on Earth even proved that the iris of an eye can't be altered in any way. So even if by some strange coincidence these Cylons of yours did indeed steal my friends away from me then I'll be able to tell if your Sharon is my Jennifer."

"And if they do prove one in the same, then you've just helped us as well. These new Cylons look so human that you can't really tell who's human and who's not," Lee told him.

"I've been wondering. Why do these Cylons hate you so much? I figured the two I saw on Kobol were merely programmed machines but from the way you talk, sounds like they have a grudge."

"That's a complicated story," Lee told him.

"I've heard worse," Kelan offered. "Besides, you've mentioned you need Earth's help. And, so you'll know, unless you have a good reason, not too many people on Earth will give you that help."

"I'm not sure if I'm the one to tell you," Lee said after a moment.

"Then who can?" Kelan asked.

"My father, if he ever wakes up."

"Alright, fair enough," Kelan said. "As soon as he's well I'll look forward to speaking with him, if he'll have me, that is."

"I'm sure he will. You're from Earth afterall."

Nodding, Kelan walked back towards his meager quarters. The computer was still processing all the information locked away in it, rather quickly to his dismay. That only meant that there was no hope of retrieving his friends.

Which made him truly the only Earthling in God only knew how many light-years.

In another part of the Galactica, Cylon Humanoid Model Number Six stalked around, watching her prey. She noted every door, every hatchway. She smiled inwardly to herself. When the time came, nothing would stand in her way and her revenge would be complete.

No one noticed her, of course. In essence, she was completely invisible to these humans. Something else that God had given her. She could, of course, appear to the man she loved, and disappear just as quickly. Thinking back, she realized she thoroughly enjoyed the mind games she had been playing with Gaius Baltar for several months now.

She watched now as her prey rounded a corner and ran into a new face. This was a man she had never seen before and yet he seemed instantly familiar. Deep within her mind she could feel routines screaming for attention. She shrugged these off. Other routines attempted to discern the reasoning behind these thoughts. Within the width of a nanosecond they reached the same conclusion: _Does not compute._

_Explain!_ she commanded her processing routines.

_This man does not exist,_ was the quick answer. _He is what the humans would call a 'figment of the imagination'._

Her mind began to spin. This man was clearly talking to her prey. He had to exist. He was obviously not interacting with her as she did with Gaius Baltar.

_I can see him! _she yelled inwardly.

_He does not exist, _was the quick answer yet again.

She felt like screaming. Yet she knew that doing so would reveal her to the rest of the crew. No amount of God's technology had yet been able to fully conceal her voice, hence her constant whispering to Baltar.

_Move away, focus on other aspects of the mission,_ her higher routines urged. _Do not focus on things that are not there._

It was too much, really. As the message repeated itself, she could feel her head throbbing. She had never experienced a headache before so the experience was overwhelming. Her mind told her one thing and yet her eyes told her another. The man was there and yet he was not.

She could feel her body shaking now. She could feel her world spinning.

_Warning! Warning! _her internal programming shouted. _Increased heart rate detected. Systems becoming overwhelmed. Initiating emergency shutdown. Sending data stream to Number One. Recommend total shutdown of Number Six model until situation remedied._

With that, her world went dark yet again.

Colonel Tigh looked at the woman with a scowl on his face. The fact that she had been placed next to his still comatose friend didn't not help the situation.

"You're telling me she just appeared out of nowhere?" he growled. "How the frak is that possible."

"We're not sure, sir," the duty nurse told him. "Lieutenant Thrace says she was having a conversation with the man from Earth when she suddenly appeared."

"Gods, and what did the Earth man have to say? Another friend of his?"

She pulled back another curtain to reveal the sleeping form of Mark Kelan.

"Lieutenant Thrace says when he saw her he went white and fainted."

"Right. Hope no one else on Earth is that weak," Tigh said.

"Wouldn't you faint if you suddenly saw a ghost?" the nurse asked.

"Frak no," Tigh said, offering a rare chuckle. Then, turning serious again, "Tell me the moment he wakes up. And if that woman wakes up, you tell me too. And don't you dare remove those restraints. According to Thrace she's a Cylon."

"Yes, sir," the nurse said and resumed her duties.


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N: Some of you probably know where I'm going with all of this. But this still is a wrap up of Season One, much like the current Season Two did with dragging out the wrap up over half of the first half of the season. Anyway, enjoy._

Chapter 1

Gaius Baltar couldn't believe his eyes. Of course he hadn't believed much over the past week or so. Men appearing out of thin air, sleek weapons of destruction, and, of course, the return of a woman he thought dead.

_I've got you now,_ he thought to himself. _Now I know I'm not insane._

According to the doctor she was in a deep coma. Apparently she had suffered a massive nervous breakdown. He said she should be dead, but wasn't, only proving she was a machine. Not that they'd needed that to make that determination. Lieutenant Thrace had easily identified the Cylon when she suddenly appeared.

Baltar turned his gaze towards the man in the adjoining bed, the man from Earth. His appearance had been sudden as well. Were the two connected somehow? He did remember hearing someone say a connection had been discovered between Lieutenant Valerii and his seemingly lost "friends". He made a note to follow up on that connection.

Mr. Kelan, it seemed, was only suffering from a bump on the head, caused from his sudden fainting at the sight of Baltar's Cylon love. Doctor Cottle told him that he'd wake up within the hour, the other reason Baltar was here at the moment.

A stirring broke Baltar out of his thoughts. Apparently Mr. Kelan was finally deciding to wake up.

"Where? Where am I?" he asked, looking around.

"Sickbay," Baltar told him.

"Again? Good grief, what did I do this time?"

"You, um, fainted," Baltar answered, trying to suppress a chuckle.

"Ah, yes, I remember now," Kelan said, remembering the ordeal. "I was talking to, what's here name, um, Lieutenant Thrace, that's it. I was talking to her when I suddenly thought I saw a ghost."

"A ghost?" Baltar asked.

"Yeah. In fact, there it is again," he said, pointing to the heavily guarded figure of Six. "So it wasn't a nightmare, thank God."

"You recognize her?" Baltar asked.

"Unfortunately so," he said somberly. "It only proves what I was already suspecting when I saw the Cylon in the brig."

Baltar watched as Kelan's face went from that of sadness to near rage. His breathing became ragged and he began to shake violently.

"Those bastards!" he said, keeping his scream to an enraged whisper. Looking at Baltar he said, "I want to know everything about these Cylons. Everything, you hear me! I don't want any lies. I want the truth!"

"Are you sure you want the truth?" a voice asked nearby, causing both men to jump.

"Commander Adama!" Baltar exclaimed, wide eyed. "You're awake."

"I have been for sometime," Adama said blinking his eyes. "What's happening on my ship?"

Colonial One

"What exactly is going on?" Laura Roslin asked. "The commander is awake, you say?"

"He is, finally," Billy told her. "And, well, he wishes to see you immediately."

"For what reason?" she asked, only knowing the answer.

"He didn't say," Billy answered, much to her surprise. "But I have a feeling it has to do with the man from Earth."

"A man I have yet to meet," she observed. "Every time I want to meet him something always comes up."

"The, um, rumor is, Madam President, that our man from Earth may have found out where the human Cylons came from."

"Really?" she asked, somewhat surprised. "And how does he know this?"

"I'm not sure, but perhaps you'll find out when you go to see Adama."

"Perhaps I will," Roslin smiled, thankful for the chance to get off her ship. "Tell the pilot to begin preparations for a docking."

"Already underway," Billy told her. "The commander had anticipated you're wish to meet this man."

Roslin could only smile at this.

"Then I guess all I can do is get ready," she said, moving towards her private quarters.

Kara could not believe her eyes. The man who practically treated her like a daughter was finally awake. She did her best to hold back her tears of joy, though a few managed to slip through.

"Commander," she said, trying to resist the urge to hug him.

"Starbuck. What d'you hear?" he asked with a knowing smile.

"Nothing but the rain," she smiled and gave in, hugging him.

"Easy, easy," Adama said, patting her on the back.

"Sorry, sir," she said, releasing him. "It's just so good to have you back."

"Likewise," Adama told her. "I understand your unauthorized mission home was a success."

"In more ways than one. I found Helo."

"So I heard. And this man from Earth. How did he get here exactly?"

"I still don't understand that myself. I never did take the Arrow down to Kobol. But I think it had something to do with his appearing. And, I'm sorry I didn't believe you about Earth."

"It's alright now," he told her. "It turns out I was right all along. I just wanted to give everyone something to hope for in those first days after our flight from the Colonies. Something to hold us until we could find a new planet to call home. Now, it looks like Earth will eventually be that home."

"If our new friend can find it, that is," Kara pointed out.

"I've been made aware of that situation. But once we move on from here I'll see that Mr. Kelan has everything he needs to find his home. Our home," Adama added.

"What of everything else? What about the government?" Kara asked.

"I intend to make amends. If we're to go on we have to do so as a united people. If we fracture now, the Cylons will have an easy time finishing us off."

"My thoughts exactly, Commander," came the voice of Laura Roslin.

"Madam President, I see you got my message," Adama said in greeting.

"So it's still 'Madam President'? I thought you wanted my resignation?"

"Something came up," Adama said, managing a weak smile. "I hope there were no hard feelings."

"Well, at least I was allowed to stay on my ship," she told him. "But, I suppose I should offer an apology myself. I should never have ordered Lieutenant Thrace to go to Caprica. If she hadn't, then you wouldn't have gotten shot."

"I don't like to dwindle on 'what-ifs', Madam President. Things happen and you have to move on, regardless of the outcome. The thing that shot me could have found another opportunity to complete her mission."

"I understand there's another one," Roslin said.

"Indeed there is. Two actually. A clone of the one that shot me and one that Lieutenant Thrace has dealt with personally," he told her, indicating the heavy presence of Marines in the sick bay. "It appears they can hide themselves as well as look like us."

"I don't understand."

"I'm sure there'll be time to discuss all of this later," Adama said, easing his self up slightly. "Once the doctor releases me from his grip, that is."

"That'll come soon enough," Dr. Cottle retorted as he entered the area. "But right now I'd like you to get some rest. Removing two bullets from your chest isn't exactly something you sit up from after a week."

"Is that an order, Doctor?" Adama asked.

"You damn right it is. Now, the rest of you, out. Visiting hours are over."

Smiling, Roslin, Billy and Kara turned to leave.

"One more thing," Roslin said, turning back to Adama. "Where is the man from Earth at the moment? I've been wanting to meet with him for some time now, but something always seems to prevent that."

"Lieutenant Thrace can lead the way," Adama answered without looking up.

"Thank you, Commander. Lieutenant?"

Leading the way, Kara and Roslin exited. On the bed nearby, the prone form of Number Six twitched slightly.

She felt like she was falling. It was something she'd never experienced before. Not in the sense she was feeling it, that is. The memory of her fall at the hands of Kara Thrace still burned in her memory, but this feeling was something else.

Around her she could see images, images she had never seen before. Or so her subconscious programming was telling her. She had never dreamed before since Cylons never required sleep. Several of her clones had feigned sleep before, but never actually experienced it.

Her world had been dark after the shutdown, at least in the beginning. Despite her higher functions being turned off she still had fleeting memories of being handled by the humans, placed on a gurney, and taken to their sickbay. Instead of killing her, they were actually watching over here! Her routines dictated that humans did not watch over and help Cylons. They destroyed them. This way of thinking only served to drive her deep into her subconscious.

And now the images. Some of them looked familiar. There were predominately people in these images and she actually recognized some of them. Or so she thought. Model Number Seven seemed to dominate most of them, though she did recognize most of the other Humanoid Models as well.

And the man. The man that her routines insisted did not exist. He seemed to be in all of these images. Sometimes he was angry, other times he was talking nice to her. It was all confusing, of course, since she had no memory of him.

_What is happening to me?_ she begged to God, hoping He could hear. _Why are you doing this to me?_

She got no answer. Sullen, she allowed herself to drift farther into her subconscious. The images soon disappeared.

He felt like punching something again. He didn't want to believe what Cally was telling him, but it appeared to be the truth he was seeking.

"Sentient machines, created by humans, with absolutely no checks on their actions?" he asked when she finished.

"They were created as servants, soldiers, whatever we had grown tired of doing," she explained.

"And no one complained about this? If this had been Earth every union worker on every continent would have been screaming at the top of their lungs over the loss of jobs. Oh, we have machines that do things for us, but they don't think. At least they didn't when I was there."

"What's a union?" Cally asked, confused.

"Later. I just can't wrap my mind around how you let these things go after they rose up and killed millions of people."

"We did the best we could. We couldn't outthink them," she told him. "They could hack our computers with such ease."

"Because you let them," he shot back. "According to this book you didn't even try to fight them with technology. You just used brute force to fight them back. Ten years and all you did was unite your colonies and build these ships. There was so much more you could have done. You could have hit them with a virus of your own. You could have use developed electromagnetic weapons. But you didn't. You just used what you had, you didn't innovate. And look what it got you. Look what it got me."

"I'm sorry," she told him. "I really am."

"Tell that to the billions who died when they came back. Tell that to my friends."

He realized he'd gone too far.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's not your fault," she told him, holding back her tears. "My parents lived in Caprica City. I'm sure they didn't suffer."

He paced around the room trying to collect his thoughts.

"Why not me, though?" he finally asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Why not me? The hard drive I had been processed to shows no signs of tampering. If these Cylons are such computer geniuses they would have easily tapped into it as well. And yet I'm here. Why?"

"I guess only the Cylons know," she told him.

"Still, as soon as that one in sickbay wakes up, I'm going to be very angry," he noted.

A beep at his computer temporarily broke him out of his rage. The program had retrieved yet another piece of information.

"Seems to be a video of some kind," he said, noting the file extension. "Nothing we put on there when we left Earth, though. Of course, look at the date. It was created some thirty years ago."

"About a decade after the Cylons left," Cally pointed out.

"Let's watch it, then," Kelan said, pulling up the relevant program.

After what appeared to be static, the video began playing. As it did, both Cally and Kelan let out a collective gasp.


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates as I have been in the process of a complicated move coupled with a transition to a new ISP and rearranging stuff, but, here I am, back with another chapter._

Chapter 2

"If anyone is viewing this, then chances are I'm already dead," the female voice said.

Cally gasped when the female's image finally came on screen.

"It's here," she observed.

"I know," Kelan said, the emotion gone from his voice.

"From what we can tell, it's been roughly 170 years since we left Earth," the woman continued. "We never made it to our intended destination. We've been intercepted by a race of machines. They're like images out of old sci-fi movies from the '50s.

"They insist they were created by humans and that's just as odd as the fact that they speak perfect English, if with a strange mechanical accent."

"Cylons," Cally whispered, wide-eyed.

"Thankfully they haven't been able to access all of our systems. We anticipated something like this, even in the frantic moments before leaving Earth. The drives were encrypted heavily and the access systems wiped. The data is as secure as it can be. Accept for us, that is. Hopefully, Mark, you are the one viewing this recording. These…machines call themselves Cylons. I don't know what they want with us, but I assure you they do not know where Earth is. We don't even know where Earth is so they can't get it from any of us."

She leaned closer to the camera and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Something else has been going on since they brought us out of the processor. These Cylons have been rather animated over the past few days. I've only heard bits and pieces but apparently another ship came alongside not long after we were brought aboard. I haven't seen it, but the others and I have heard it's far more advanced than anything ever conceived. Whoever is on that ship is of a higher intelligence that humans or Cylons."

Something off camera caused the woman to jump.

"Oh my God, something's happening. I think they're coming for me."

"You will come with us," came the electronic monotonous voice of a Cylon. "God wishes to meet you."

"What?" the woman asked incredulously. "That's impossible."

"Everything is clear to us now. God has enlightened us. He has told us about His plan."

"But," she began.

"Turn off the camera!" the Cylon ordered another Centurion.

"By your command."

The video went blank. Mark and Cally both sat there staring at the monitor for a moment.

"Shelly," Kelan said finally. "What did they do to you? God? Cylons?"

"The rumor is they believe in one God," Cally told him.

"So I've heard. But this. My friends. Turned into monsters."

"Actually, this is a good thing," Cally said.

"What? You can't be serious! How can this be good?"

"Now we'll be able to root out the human looking Cylons," she answered. "You have pictures of your friends, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah I do," Kelan said, pulling up the appropriate file. "But it doesn't change the fact that I indirectly caused the deaths of 20 billion people."

"What? How can you say that?"

"Don't you see?" he asked her. "If I had never left Earth then the Cylons would have never found my friends and that person claiming to be God would have never showed up and there would have been no attack on the Colonies."

"You don't know that," Cally told him. "They would have tried again. And their God would have found them anyway."

"Still," Kelan said as he printed out the pictures of his friends. "I don't know if I can live with that."

Cally walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"What's past is past," she told him. "You can't change the past. You can only live for the present and create a better future. You're here with us now and can help us find Earth where we'll be able to fight back against the Cylons."

"If there's even an Earth for me to go back to. No telling what they've done to each other over the past 200 years."

"I don't understand," she said.

"Nothing. It's rather complicated and I'm already getting a headache. Here, you might want to show these to Commander Adama."

"Some of these people look familiar," Cally told him.

"I haven't seen any of them, other than Shelly and my friend Jennifer."

"These two here, I've seen them both," Cally said, pointing out the pictures of two men.

"They built the engines that powered the ship. Good ol' Adam and his friend Leonard. They built the Moon probe, y'know. Well, of course you don't know. But they did. They were working on a hyperlight drive of some sorts before we left. We were going to use it to explore the outer Solar System quicker. I think the prototype is still in the system."

He punched a few keys on the keyboard.

"Yeah, right here it is. Maybe I can get this to working. Might come in handy one day."

"I'd like to help. I don't know much about FTL drives, but I'm good with my hands, I mean, with tools and stuff," Cally told him, slightly flushed.

Kelan nodded, clearly lost in his thoughts.

"Well, I guess I'll go show these to the Commander," she said and rushed off, embarrassed.


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N: Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, time for things to happen._

Chapter 3

Six shot up in her bed, easily breaking the restraints she had been placed in. As the astonished Marines trained their weapons on her, she whispered one thing.

"It's time."

Then she vanished.

Cylon-occupied Picon

"What the Hell?" Aaron Doral asked aloud as the lights in his office went dark.

"The time has come," a voice boomed. "You're task is complete and thus you are no longer needed in my plans."

"What? But we had a deal!" Doral exclaimed. "We get the Colonies in exchange for kicking the humans out."

"And until the humans found the planet Earth," the voice pointed out. "Which now it appears they will do so much sooner than anticipated. Thus, these worlds must be cleansed for their eventual return."

"But these are Cylon worlds!"

"They are now and shall always be human worlds, Aaron Doral. One day the humans shall return. And when they do, their worlds must be cleansed and ready for them."

"Please, God, I don't want to die," Doral begged. "Not like this."

"It is as it must be," God said, vanishing as quickly as He had appeared.

Across twelve worlds machines shrieked as they were consumed in a light brighter than that of an atomic explosion. All unnatural material was wiped from the face of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, leaving pristine worlds in their wake.

Battlestar Galactica

"These photos are real?" Colonel Tigh asked. "How can we be sure?"

"I watched him print them out myself, sir," Cally told him.

"Still, they could be doctored."

"Only if the Cylons gave them to him," Adama pointed out. "He seems convincing enough."

"All the human looking Cylons seem convincing," Tigh said. "You learned that the hard way, Bill."

"Don't remind me," Adama said, rubbing his chest. "Enough of his story checks out, though. Cylons haven't been known to argue as much as he has. Distribute these photos to the Fleet. Have anyone looking like this rounded up and brought to the Galactica."

"That's gonna be a lot of Cylons," Tigh pointed out. "The brig's never going to hold them all."

"We'll convert the starboard landing deck if needed. Not much other use for it right now anyway."

Tigh nodded.

"At least it's over with," he said finally. "Now we know who's who."

"I want to talk to Mr. Kelan personally," Adama said. "Cally, see about bringing him to my quarters."

"Yes sir," Cally saluted and left.

Later, Mark Kelan stood looking at one of Adama's paintings.

"It looks so much like an artist on Earth. Can't quite remember his name," he said after a moments thought. "The setting seems almost medieval."

"It's from the Late Unification Period on Caprica," Adama told him. "About four hundred years before the Colonies rediscovered space travel."

"Sounds about right," Kelan said. "But I'm sure you didn't bring me here to discuss art."

"You'd be right about that," Adama told him. "From what I've been hearing, you don't know where Earth is. Is that right?"

"That's correct. We targeted a star in the general direction of Scorpio, but didn't have the time to install anything to record our journey. Add to that the Cylons stumbling across us about thirty years ago and, well, there you have it."

"So tell me, what do you need to find Earth?" Adama asked after a moments thought.

"A radio, for one thing. If I could tune a signal from Earth it might give me a general direction, maybe even distance."

"What do you mean, 'if you could'?"

"Well, to be frank, before we left certain groups were beginning to implement encryption technologies on their signals. See, if there is one thing that exists on Earth that is far more evil than anything else, then it's greed. These groups couldn't stand the thought of their content being out in the open. They wanted to be paid for every little thing read, heard or seen. So they lobbied for encryption. 'Digital Rights Management' they called it. Only certain players would be able to decrypt the signals and even then for a limited time. My people lobbied against it, of course. We tried to convince everyone it would just lock our culture away for all eternity but they wouldn't listen. We could already be receiving signals from Earth, for all we know. We just wouldn't know it."

"I see," Adama said after Kelan finished. "Would you agree that traveling back on your original path would be another place to start."

Kelan thought, then nodded.

"Possibly. And I could try to locate a familiar star. I was never an astronomer or anything close to it, but I have programs with star charts on them. If I could just decipher them, they might help."

"I believe we have an astronomer in the Fleet who may be of some assistance. I'll see that he's sent over," Adama told him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we're about to make the final preparations for a jump out of this system."

"Eh, a 'jump'?" Kelan asked.

"FTL. Faster than light," Adama explained.

"I've heard mention of that. How exactly does it work?"

"Accompany me to CIC and I'll tell you," Adama said as they walked out. "The important thing to remember is, when we do jump don't move a muscle."

"I can do that," Kelan assured him.

Colonial One

"Not again," Laura Roslin said as she collapsed into the Kamala induced vision.

She saw a planet, or rather a moon. What struck her as odd was the fact that no light shone on this moon. No stars in any direction she peered gave a hint of being a parent star. And, to her amazement, the moon was not orbiting a planet, as was natural. By all appearances, it just hung in space.

The image vanished. Now she found herself in a ship of some kind. She could see people ahead of her, calling out, but she could not hear their voices. Other than that, her vision was limited as the interior of this ship was pitch black.

"Madame President?" Billy asked, breaking her out of the vision. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know," she told him. "I had another vision. But it wasn't religious like the others. I saw a moon, but then I was in a ship. I'm sorry, what did you need?"

"We're about to make a jump," Billy told her. "I thought you should know."

"Thank you, Billy."

Around the Galactica, the ships of the Fleet winked out, the Galactica winking out last.

And immediately they were nowhere.

CIC

"What a rush," Kelan said once his senses had returned to him. "Is it normal to feel turned inside out?"

"Most who experience their first FTL jump feel like losing their lunch," Adama told him. "It's perfectly normal."

"I…see," Kelan said, swallowing.

"Report?" Adama asked Lt. Gaeta.

"Checking, sir," Gaeta responded, checking his computers. He did a double take at what he was seeing.

"Mr. Gaeta?" Adama asked again.

"Sir, I'm not sure, but the computer is putting our position as…nowhere," Gaeta said, shock in his voice.

"What? That's impossible," Tight growled. "You can't plot a jump to the middle of nowhere. Lieutenant, you didn't frak up the numbers, did you?"

"No, sir. We ran the numbers three times. We should be on the outer edges of a small solar system."

"Star system," Kelan interjected.

"Excuse me?" Tigh growled again.

"Forgive me, just a little pet peeve of mine. Forget I'm here."

"Anyway, as I was saying," Gaeta continued. "We should be on the outer edges of a sol…star system right now."

The sudden bleeping of the Dradis caused Gaeta to check his computers again.

"Dradis contact. Very, very large Dradis contact. It's not Cylon. Whatever it is, it's huge."

"Do we have a Viper in the tube?" Adama asked.

"Yes, sir," Dualla answered.

"Launch it," Adama ordered. "I want a visual on this contact. And have the alert fighters on standby."

"Yes, sir," Duala said as she relayed the orders.

Kara scanned the space in front of her. Her Dradis was screaming that a huge contact lay directly ahead, but, for the life of her, she couldn't see anything.

"Galactica, Starbuck, I'm not seeing anything out here," Kara radioed.

"Dradis says it's right in front of you," came the voice of Adama. "In fact, you're almost on top of it."

In front of her, Kara could see stars beginning to wink out. Reaching down, she flipped on her running lights.

"Frak!" she yelled, realizing a large shape was indeed in front of her.

Pulling up on her control stick, she veered as quickly as possible to the right of the object and moved away. Moving around to the other side, she could make out what could only be a planetary body.

"Um, Galactica, I'm not believing what I'm seeing out here. I don't know how, but this seems to be a planet of some kind."

In the CIC, everyone looked at each other. Only Mark Kelan could think of anything to say.

"Huh?" he asked no one in particular.

_A/N: And there you have it for the moment. The Cylons are out of the picture, for the moment anyway. And now the Fleet is in the middle of nowhere. What is to come for humanity is anybody's guess._


End file.
